Providing information, education, and training to build knowledge, develop skills, and change attitudes that will lead to increased independence, productivity, self determination, integration and inclusion (IPSII) for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

LONDON, ENGLAND--A new report reveals that 16 of Britain's
institutions housing 752 people with intellectual disabilities will remain open
past the government's current April 2004 target closure date.

The report, "Time to move on", released by the social care charity
Turning Point, shows that one-half of the people who were supposed by be moved
out of the facilities and into community homes by the deadline are still behind
institution walls.

Some residents have been waiting for more than 35 years to move out, the
charity said.

"This must be one of the longest waiting lists in the NHS," Lord Victor
Adebowale, Chief Executive of Turning Point, said in a press statement. "Yet
these people are not ill and a hospital is not a home where they can live full
lives."

"The government has a fantastic opportunity to become the administration
that finally gives every person with a learning disability an independent home
within the community. We're urging it to take action now so that this
doesnt become a missed opportunity."

Turning Point is calling on the government to set a new target date of
December 2004 to have all of the institutions closed. The organization wants
the government to back this up by revising the target in the priorities of
Strategic Health Authorities, NHS Trusts, social services and housing
departments.

"These are people who could be living in the community, who could be
deciding how they want to live, who could be deciding the kinds of things you
and I take for granted -- whether they want to have sugar in their tea, for
instance, what color they want their walls to be," Adebowale told the BBC News.
"These are things that could be possible."

The GCDD is funded under the provisions of P.L. 106-402. The federal law also provides funding to the Minnesota Disability Law Center,the state Protection and Advocacy System, and to the Institute on Community Integration, the state University Center for Excellence. The Minnesota network of programs works to increase the IPSII of people with developmental disabilities and families into community life.